RICHARD Hall produced one of his best performances of the season as Sheffield raced to a 55-41 victory over a strong Birmingham side at Owlerton.

Tigers boss Neil Machin had said earlier in the week that Hall could be the key to Tigers Premier League fortunes this season and he responded with a magnificent 14+1 paid maximum.

It was a good all-round performance with Hugh Skidmore and Paul Cooper both providing solid support with 8+1 apiece and Joel Parsons chipped in with a useful 8 points.

Two 5-1s in the first three heats set the agenda for the night and after a third maximum in heat 7, Tigers were beginning to run away with it at 29-13.

Birmingham hit back courtesy of Richard Sweetman’s double-point win in heat 8, but normal service resumed when Hall and Parsons raced to a 4-2 in heat 9.

Piszcz (tactical ride) and Sweetman did give the home side a bit of a fright with an 8-1 in heat 11, but the balance of power was quickly restored with a Parsons and Chris Mills’ 5-1 in heat 12.

Birmingham did salvage some pride with a 5-1 in heat 13, but another five-pointer from Hall and Cooper in heat 14 wrapped up the Premier League points for the Tigers.

SHEFFIELD 55: Richard Hall 14+1, Paul Cooper 8+1, Hugh Skidmore 8+1, Joel Parsons 8, Ricky Ashworth 7, Chris Mills 6+2, Josh Auty 4+1

BIRMINGHAM 41: Richard Sweetman 14+1, Tomasz Piszcz 13+1, Jason Lyons 9+1, Robert Kseizak 4, Luke Priest 1, Manuel Hauzinger 0, Ludvig Lindgren 0